{"667603":{"#nid":"667603","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Digital Mental Health Resources Not Meeting Perinatal Black Women\u0027s Needs","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPregnant and postpartum Black women experience disproportionately higher rates of mental health challenges, and new research indicates that a one-size-fits-all approach to digital mental health tools and platforms is falling short for these women.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EVanessa Oguamanam has researched the correlation of digital tools and how often Black women in perinatal stages use them to improve their mental health.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Black women are at\u0026nbsp;\u201chigher risk for experiencing perinatal and postnatal anxiety disorders such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder.\u0022\u0026nbsp;The risk for PMADs is estimated to be double that of the general population.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chi.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E[MICROSITE: Georgia Tech at CHI 2023]\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe problem has worsened since the Covid-19 pandemic, says Oguamanam, a Ph.D. student in the School of Interactive Computing under the advisement of Associate Professor Andrea Parker, founder and director of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/wellnesstechlab\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EWellness Technology Research Lab\u003C\/a\u003E. Oguamanam has spent most of her doctoral career researching technology designed to benefit the health of Black women.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI had friends who became new moms during the pandemic and just seeing the extra amount of stress that they were enduring in addition to balancing new childcare responsibilities led me to start thinking of potential ways I could address this mental health crisis with technology.\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMental health is one of the leading complications during pregnancy and childbirth, and it\u2019s a contributing factor to some maternal deaths. The pandemic exacerbated all of that. We\u2019re seeing rates that are skyrocketing.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn a paper that was accepted at the 2023 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), Oguamanam and Parker surveyed 101 pregnant and postpartum Black women. They found 34% reported moderate to severe anxiety, while 41% percent expressed having moderate to severe psychological distress, and 74% experienced a high level of postnatal depressive symptoms.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOguamanam and Parker also studied participant interaction with four main forms of technology \u2014 social media, apps, self-tracking devices, and video calls.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere\u2019s been very little work investigating how we can design digital mental health tools to support Black pregnant and postpartum women\u2019s needs,\u201d Parker said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to understand what their current use and satisfaction level is with existing platforms. We need this foundational understanding to drive future design efforts.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research indicates that income and education levels were significant variables among the women surveyed. Of the 101 participants surveyed, 49 identified as low income, and 43 percent identified as middle to upper income. Forty-three held less than a bachelor\u2019s degree while 58 held a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThose with higher incomes and education tended to use apps and self-tracking devices more frequently. The use of video calls varied among pregnancy status and the area of the U.S. where participants lived. Women who were pregnant and lived in the South used video calls most frequently.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESocial media was widely used among all demographics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne of the main takeaways from the study is that participant feedback shows the \u201cone-size-fits-all\u201d approach that digital mental health interventionists often take in their design methods can be insufficient for meeting the needs of pregnant and postpartum Black women. Oguamanam said the societal problems of systemic racism and barriers to healthcare that Black women experience aren\u2019t often considered in such efforts.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYears and years of experiencing racial and gendered discrimination have impacted the stress levels of Black women and their overall well-being,\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s important to emphasize that when we\u2019re thinking about health disparities among racial groups, there can be a tendency to think it just boils down to differences in socioeconomic status,\u201d echoed Parker. \u201cBut many of these disparities persist when we compare higher income groups of black women to another racial ethnic group. These inequitable differences reflect a broader set of structural forces that create barriers to healthcare access and quality and increased exposure to mental health threats.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOguamanam and Parker also found that 97% of the women surveyed embraced the identity of the strong Black woman, a representation that has been explored at length by social science researchers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers agree the external factors of systemic racism and healthcare barriers tend to push Black women toward that identity.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s a role that a number of Black women tend to identify with, either consciously or subconsciously,\u201d Oguamanam said. \u201cIt\u2019s the idea of presenting an image of strength and feeling like you have to take care of you, your family, and your community and that you\u2019re responsible for carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOguamanam\u2019s and Parker\u2019s study indicates women with greater adoption of the strong Black woman persona tended to use self-tracking devices with greater frequency. That trend could be attributable to those devices offering a sense of autonomy, Parker said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe whole vision of self-tracking devices is that you can take care of yourself,\u201d Parker said. \u201cYou can monitor your own well-being and oversee collecting data and managing your own health. That type of platform might be more appealing to individuals who have a resistance toward being vulnerable.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThese findings only scratch the surface, and Oguamanam and Parker hope to shift current methods and discussions surrounding digital mental health toward a more inclusive environment that includes the experience of pregnant and postpartum Black women.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMore research is needed to investigate these hypotheses, and ultimately design and demonstrate the effectiveness of digital tools that support the wellbeing of pregnant and postpartum Black women,\u201d Parker said. \u201cSuch innovations can help us make necessary strides toward achieving maternal mental health equity.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFindings from new research from the School of Interactive Computing indicate that a one-size-fits-all approach to digital mental health tools and platforms is falling short for Pregnant and postpartum Black women.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers look to create better support tools based on a study of how participants interact with social media, apps, self-tracking devices, and video calls."}],"uid":"32045","created_gmt":"2023-05-02 14:17:06","changed_gmt":"2023-05-02 14:20:53","author":"Ben Snedeker","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"670710":{"id":"670710","type":"image","title":"AA_pregnancy story.jpeg","body":null,"created":"1683037037","gmt_created":"2023-05-02 14:17:17","changed":"1683037037","gmt_changed":"2023-05-02 14:17:17","alt":"A candid stock photo of a black couple seated on a bench smiling together about the impending birth of their child","file":{"fid":"253622","name":"AA_pregnancy story.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/05\/02\/AA_pregnancy%20story.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/05\/02\/AA_pregnancy%20story.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":78423,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/05\/02\/AA_pregnancy%20story.jpeg?itok=mnddslUE"}}},"media_ids":["670710"],"groups":[{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENathan Deen Communications Officer I School of Interactive Computing nathan.deen@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["nathan.deen@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}